And james



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CASSIUS P. STIMETS, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, AND JAMES E. ATWOOD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AUTOMATIC DANCER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 411,378, dated September 27, 1864.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, GAssrUs l). S'riME'rs, of Trenton, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, and JAMEs E. ATwooD, of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Automatic Dancer; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of our invention consists in an improved manner of operating an automatic dancer, as hereinafter mentioned.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe the manner of its construction and operation.

'lhe figure represents a side view of the dancer when ready for use.

Letter A is the automatic image; B, the supporting-pillar for the image A. G is the base 5 D, the springboard; E, the spiral spring, so arranged that it may be inserted between the base and the spring-board D at pleasure. F F are finger-pieces attached to the spring-board. G is a spring attached to the body of the image A and the pillar. H is a spring which attaches the spring-board to the supporting-pillar.

We construct our dancer substantially as follows: The base C aud upright pillar B are made of wood or any other suitable material. The spring G, which attaches the im age A to the standard B, and the spring H,

.which attaches the spring-board to the said standard, are made of pieces of steel, substantially like that commonly used for clocksprings. The image A may be made of wood or other material, with loose joints, to enable thelimbs to play with the least possible amount of friction. The spring-board may be of wood,

sheet metal, or other suitable material. The linger-piece F, attached to the rear end ofthe springboard, is extended backward through a ,slot in the pillar B, so that the fingers may be applied to operate the dancer behind the pillar, where the hand will not interfere with the view of the image, and where it may be itself concealed from view by a board or screen attached to the pillar. The other iingerpiece, F', is attached to or formed upon the front end of the board, to enable the dancer to be operated in front, if desired.

To adjust the image for operation, one end of the spring G should be inserted into orattached to the back of the image at a point between the shoulders or any other desired place, and the other end attached to some convenient point in the pillar B, so that the toes of the image or automaton may touch the springboard D, and then by rapping the lingers on either of the linger-pieces F or F the image will dance iu a comical manner.

The image may be made to represent a ncgro, sailor, or other character.

The spring E may be employed or omitted, as desired.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

' 1. The arrangement and combination of the movable coiled spring E with the base C and spring-board D, substantially as herein described.

2. The finger-piece F, attached to or formed on the rear end of the spring-board, and extending through or beyond the back of the pillar B, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

GASSIUS P. STIMETS. JAMES E. ATVVOOD. Witnesses:

HENRY T. BROWN, S. F. COHEN. 

